N.Sumatra fuel compensation fund misused
N.Sumatra fuel compensation fund misused
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra
The North Sumatra legislature has found irregularities in the
distribution of fuel compensation funds worth Rp 11.8 billion
(US$1.31 million), money that was supposed to have been used to
help poor people in the health and fishing sectors last year.
"The government must probe the irregularities and bring the
corruptors to justice for stealing money from the poor,"
councillor Kamaluddin Harahap of the council's commission II on
legal affairs said on Saturday.
According to Kamaluddin, of the total money involved, Rp 11
billion had still not been used by the Kisaran and Tanjung Pura
Hospitals, while the remainder, supposed to be allocated to
fishermen, had been paid to Asahan regency for unclear reason.
"The health and fishing agencies must be held responsible for
these irregularities. They must have known where the money was
going," he said.
He suspected officials in the two agencies were involved in
the misuse of the funds.
The fuel compensation funds are an annual subsidy given by the
central government through local administrations to help the poor
cope with the effects of fuel price increases.
The central government allocated compensation funds of Rp 2.85
trillion (US$320 million) last year to help over 55 million poor
people throughout the country.
The director of North Sumatra's Health Agency, Fatni Sulani,
admitted that fuel compensation funds worth Rp 11 billion had
still not been used by the Kisaran and Tanjung Pura Hospitals.
"They have not yet distributed the 2002 compensation funds,
although the others have distributed between 60 percent and 80
percent of the money that should have been distributed," he said.
Fatni expressed disappointment about the reported
irregularities in the use of state funds in the two hospitals,
which had occurred at a time when the local government still
needed Rp 350 billion to improve the province's health
infrastructure.
At present, South Sumatra need Rp 487 billion, but received
only Rp 137 billion from the local and state budgets.
According to Fatni, his office had established a special team
to monitor the distribution of fuel compensation funds, but the
team had no authority to punish those who misused the funds.
"We just hope that the prosecutors' office can investigate the
irregularities," he said.
Provincial chief prosecutor Chairuman Harahap said the Medan
Prosecutors' Office had been looking into the case and would
commence a formal investigation into it.
He promised to work professionally so as to uncover any
irregularities.
"Whoever misused the money, we don't care. We will arrest them
and send them to court for punishment," said Chairuman, who has
been nominated by Golkar for the governorship.